Apparatus for crimping closure caps to vials



Jan. 21, 1969 w, s l 3,422,598

APPARATUS FOR CRIMPING CLOSURE CAPS TO VIALS Filed Nov. 4, 1966 Sheet of 5 Q LI- 1 Q Ll.

N Q LI.-

i wiqi-fi 0 (9 rl N INVENTOR v WALTER A.SH|ELDS ATTORNEY Jan. 21, 1969 w. A. SHIELDS 3,422,598

APPARATUS FOR CRIMPING CLOSURE CAPS TO VIALS Sheet Filed NOV. 4 1966 INVENTOR WALTER A. SHIELDS ATTORNEY Jan. 21, 1969 w sHlELDS 3,422,598

APPARATUS FOR CRIMPING CLOSURE CAPS TO VIALS Sheet 3 of 5 Filed Nov. 4, 1966 WALTER A. SHIELDS BY aw ATTORNEY.

INVENTOR United States Patent 3,422,598 APPARATUS FOR CRIMPING CLOSURE CAPS TO VIALS Walter A. Shields, Jamaica, NY. (38-09 24th St., Long Island City, N.Y. 11101) Filed Nov. 4, 1966, Ser. No. 592,162 US. Cl. 53-339 7 Claims Int. Cl. B65b 7/28 This invention relates to apparatus for crimping closure caps to the beaded mouth of filled vials wherein the filled vials having a closure cap loosely fitted on each beaded mouth are successively positioned on a reciproeating plunger which successively lifts said vials and abuts the loosely fitted closure cap against a head on a nonrotating shaft extending from a rotating tubular shaft carrying a pair of pivoted levers, the lower end of each lever having a rotatable crimping disc pivotally mounted and yieldingly urged toward said head on said nonrotating shaft, a sleeve having a downwardly tapering face and slidable on said rotating tubular shaft with the upper end of each lever riding on an opposite side of said tapering cam face under spring tension, and a reciprocating member rotatably connected to said sleeve and reciprocated to reciprocate the sleeve on the rotating tubular shaft without interfering with the rotation of said tubular shaft whereby downward sliding movement of the sleeve causing the crimping discs to move toward the skirt of the closure cap on the lifted vial at an inclining angle and crimp the closure cap around the beaded mouth of the vial by the rotation of the tubular shaft.

It is an object of the invention to provide crimping discs on swivel or pivoted blocks with spring compression to permit the crimping discs to move away from a larger than standard size vial beaded mouth to compensate for the same and prevent breaking said beaded mouth.

It is another object of the invention to hold the closure cap and vial against rotation during the crimping operation.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the detailed description of the invention.

In the drawings accompanying and forming a part of this application:

FIGURES l to 4, inclusive, are front elevational views of the crimping apparatus showing in FIGURE 1 the positioning of a vial on the reciprocating plunger, in FIG- URE 2 the lifting of the vial with the closure cap abutting the head on the nonrotating shaft, in FIGURE 3 the crimping of the closure cap skirt, and in FIGURE 4 the positioning of the crimping discs from the crimped skirt to permit the return of the vial to a conveyor;

FIGURE 5 is a view similar to FIGURE 1, on a larger scale, showing means for rotating the tubular shaft and means for reciprocating the cam faced sleeve;

FIGURE 6 is a sectional view, on an enlarged scale, taken on the line 6-6 of FIGURE 5 looking in the direction of the arrows to show a loosely seated closure cap on the beaded mouth of a vial;

FIGURE 7 is a sectional view, taken on the line 7-7 of FIGURE tion of the arrows to show a crimped cap on beaded mouth;

FIGURE 8 is a side view looking at the right hand side of FIGURE 5 with the tubular shaft rotating means omitted;

FIGURE 9 is a sectional view taken on the line 9-9 of FIGURE 8 looking in the direction of the arrows to show the crimping position of the crimping discs on the swivel blocks with spring compression shown in FIGURE on an enlarged scale, 5 looking in the directhe vial 3; and

FIGURE 10 is a bottom plan view of the crimping justment of said shaft 3,422,598 Patented Jan. 21, 1969 ice discs looking from the line 10-10 of FIGURE direction of the arrows.

The embodiment of the invention is illustrated in conjunction with a filled vial conveyor partly shown as a stationary platform 11 and an intermittently actuated member 12 having equidistantly spaced openings 13 for receiving the filled vials v and transporting said vials along the platform 11. The transporting member 12 positions successive vials on a reciprocating plunger 14 slidable in the platform 11 and actuated to its lowermost position with the top of said plunger flush with the supporting surface of the platform 11 when the member 12 is actuated, as shown in FIGURES 1, 5 and 8. The plunger 14 is reciprocated when the member 12 is at its periods of rest to lift the vial positioned on said plunger, as shown in FIGURES '2, 3, 4 and 9.

In vertical alignment with the plunger 14 and above the transporting member 12, there is provided a shaft 15 supported in a housing 16, as shown in FIGURE 5. The housing 16 is extended laterally from a vertical standard, not shown. The shaft 15 is adapted to be longitudinally adjusted by being screwhreaded in a collar 17 fixedly mounted 0n the housing 16. The shaft '15 is held in adjusted position and against rotation in the collar 17 by a set-screw 18, as shown in FIGURE 5. A hand wheel 19 is secured to the upper end portion of the shaft 15 extended from the collar 17 to facilitate the longitudinal adwhen the set-screw 18 is loosened. A tubular shaft 20 is rotatably mounted in the housing 16 concentrically and exteriorly of the nonrotating shaft 15 and continuously rotated by a suitable source of power, such as an electric motor, not shown, connected to said tubular shaft by a sprocket chain 21 within the housing '16, as shown in FIGURE 5. The lower end of the nonrotating shaft 15 is extended from the tubular shaft 20 and provided with a tapering head having a recess 22, as shown in FIGURES 5 and 10, to be engaged by the closure cap c loosely seated on the beaded mouth m of the vial v raised by the plunger 14, as shown in FIGURE 6. The shaft 15 is adjusted to accommodate vials of different lengths. The crown of the closure cap 0 is arranged with an opening 0 for the insertion of a hypodermic needle, not shown, and said opening 0 is closed by a sealing pad p which also seals the beaded mouth m when the closure cap is crimped to said beaded mouth. The closure cap 0 is loosely seated on the beaded mouth m with the skirt s of the closure cap extended below the beaded mouth m, as shown in FIGURE 6.

Intermediate the housing 16 and the recess 22, a block 23 is mounted on the tubular shaft 20 by a collar 24 engaged on said shaft 20 and in a recess in the block 23 and a nut 25 is screw-threaded on the collar 24 and butting the bottom of the block 23. The block 23 is secured to the tubular shaft 20 to rotate with said tubular shaft by a set-screw 26. The block 23 carries a pair of levers, each lever comprising two bars 27 pivotally mounted on opposite sides of an end portion of said block 23 as by pivot bolts 28. The portions of the levers below the block 23 are provided with a first pair of blocks or plates 29, each of said plates being fixedly mounted between the bars of each lever, as at 30, and a second pair of blocksor plates 31, each of said plates 31 being pivotally mounted between the bars 27 of each lever and spaced below the plates 29, as at 32. The outer end of each plate 29 and 31 is arranged with an ear 33 and 34, respectively, for the engagement of retaining members in the form of bolts 35 screw-threaded in the ears 34 and said bolts 35 being of smaller diameter than the diameter of the openings in the cars 33 to permit canting of the bolts 35, as shown at 36 in FIGURE 9. The bolts 35 are retained in adjusted position by lock-nuts 37.

5 in the Blocks 38 are secured to the bottoms of the plates 31 as by bolts 39 and said blocks 38 rotatably supporting crimping discs 40 by bearings 41a.

The axes of rotation of the discs 40 extend substantially in a vertical plane with the discs 40 spaced from each other during the vial transporting movement of the member 12 and the lifting of the vial v by the plunger 14 to position the loosely fitted closure cap against the recessed head 22. Subsequent to the engagement of the closure cap 0 against the recessed head 22, the crimping discs 40 are moved toward each other with the axes of rotation of said discs canted toward each other in a downward direction to crimp the skirt s of the closure cap 0 under the beaded mouth m of the vial v. These two positions of the crimping discs 40 are accomplished by a sleeve 41 having a downwardly tapering cam face 42 and slida-bly mounted on the tubular shaft 20. The sleeve 41 is reciprocated 0n the tubular shaft 20 by a reciprocating member including an arm 43 laterally extended from a slide, not shown, and the free end of the arm 43 being provided with a bearing 44 in which the sleeve 41 is rotatably supported, as shown in FIGURES and 8, whereby the sleeve 41 is reciprocated without interfering with the rotation of the tubular shaft 20.

The upper ends of the lever bars 27 above the block 23 are provided with rollers 45 engaged in grooves 46 in diametrically opposite portions of the tapering cam face 42, as shown in FIGURES 5 and 8. The rollers 45 are yieldingly urged into engagement With the grooves 46 by springs 47 anchored at the opposite ends to the upper end portions of the lever bars 27 to assure the rotation of the sleeve 41 with the tubular shaft 20.

To prevent the breakage of the vial beaded mouth in of larger than standard size, springs 48 are interposed between the plates 29 and 31 and between the pivots 32 and the retaining bolts 35 to yieldingly cant the crimping discs 40 under the beaded mouth m, said canting movement being limited by the crimping discs 40 contacting the beaded mouth m while crimping the skirt s. When the discs 40 encounter a beaded mouth m of larger than standard size, the springs 48 will permit the crimping discs 40' to automatically adjust to the size of the beaded month. In the canted positions of the discs 40, the heads of the bolts 35 are slightly spaced from the upper surfaces of the plates 29.

In operation, the vial transporting member 12 intermittently conveys the filled vials having closure caps loosely fitted thereon along the platform 11 and positions successive vials on the plunger 14, as shown in FIGURES l, 5 and 8. During the rest periods of the transporting means 12, the plunger 14 lifts a vial and positions the closure cap into engagement with the recessed head 22 of the non-rotating shaft with the sleeve 41 in its uppermost position and the rollers 45 engaging the lower portion of the cam face 42, as shown in FIGURE 2. Subsequent to the engaging of the closure cap a with the recessed head 22, the sleeve 41 is moved by the arm 43 in a downward direction to engage the upper portion of the cam face 42 with the rollers 45 and move the crimping discs 40 toward the closure cap skirt 5 below the beaded mouth m. The movement of the lower end portions of the lever bars 27 toward the non-rotating shaft 15 permitting the springs 48 to cant the plates 31 toward each other and engaging the peripheries of the crimping discs 40 with the portion of the closure cap skirt s below the beaded mouth m. The rotation of the tubular shaft will cause the discs 40 to rotate around said skirt portion and crimp said skirt portion under the beaded month m, as shown in FIGURE 7, while the vial v and the closure cap 6 are held against rotation by the plunger 14 and the nonrotating shaft 15, respectively.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. In apparatus for crimping closure caps to vials, a

continuously rotating shaft mounted in a vertical plane, a pair of levers carried by the shaft adjacent one end thereof and each lever pivotally mounted on an opposite side of said shaft, a pair of crimping discs, each disc rotatably mounted and pivotally supported on the lower end of each lever, a sleeve having a downwardly tapering cam face and slidable on the shaft with the upper end of each lever riding on an opposite side of said tapering cam face, a reciprocating member rotatably connected to said sleeve and reciprocated to reciprocate the sleeve on the shaft without interfering with the rotation of the shaft, and resilient means connected to the upper ends of the levers to yieldingly maintain contact between said upper ends of said levers and the tapering cam face, whereby downward sliding movement of the sleeve causing the crimping discs to move toward each other.

2. In apparatus for crimping closure caps to vials as claimed in claim 1, a first pair of plates, each of said first plates fixedly supported by each lever in a plane transverse to the longitudinal axis of said lever, a second pair of plates, each of said second plates pivotally supported by each lever in spaced relation to the first plate and rotatably carrying one of said crimping discs, and a spring compressed between each of said first and second plates on the outside of the pivot of said second plate to apply a yielding pressure on the opposing edge portions of the crimping discs when the sleeve is in its lowermost position.

3. In apparatus for crimping closure caps to vials as claimed in claim 2, adjustable members retaining the first and second plates together.

4. Apparatus for crimping closure caps to vials as claimed in claim 1, wherein each upper end of each lever is provided with a roller, and the tapering cam. face of the sleeve is provided with opposed grooves, and the rollers of the pair of levers are engaged in said grooves, whereby the sleeve rotates with the shaft while imparting pivotal movements to the levers.

5. Apparatus for crimping closure caps to vials as claimed in claim 1, wherein the lower ends of the levers extend in a plane below the plane of the lower end of the shaft.

6. In apparatus for crimping closure caps to vials as claimed in claim 1, wherein the continuously rotating shaft is tubular, a nonrotating shaft mounted within the rotating tubular shaft, a horizontal support for vials having closure caps loosely seated thereon and said support spaced below the lower ends of the tubular and nonrotating shafts and the levers, and a reciprocating plunger in said support in vertical alignment with the shafts and actuated to lift a vial between the crimping discs with the closure cap abutting the lower end of the nonrotating shaft with the upper ends of the levers in engagement with the tapered end portion of the sleeve.

7. Apparatus for crimping closure caps to vials as claimed in claim 6, wherein the lower end of the nonrotating shaft terminates a distance below the lower end of the tubular shaft and above the plane of the discs to position the skirt portion of the closure cap to be crimped in horizontal alignment With the crimping discs.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,560,059 11/1925 Johnson 53-339 3,277,629 10/1966 Cozzoli et al 53339 X FOREIGN PATENTS 268,816 8/1962 Australia.

TRAVIS S. MCGEHEE, Primary Examiner. R. L. FARRIS, Assistant Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 53-42 

1. IN APPARATUS FOR CRIMPING CLOSURES CAPS TO VIALS, CONTINUOUSLY ROTATING SHAFT MOUNTED IN A VERTICAL PLANE, PAIR OF LEVERS CARRIED BY THE SHAFT ADJACENT ONE END THEREOF SAID EACH LEVER PIVOTALLY MOUNTED ON AN OPPOSITE SIDE OF SAID SHAFT, A PAIR OF CRIMPING DISCS, EACH DISC ROTATABLY MOUNTED AND PIVOTALLY SUPPORTED ON THE LOWER END OF EACH LEVER, A SLEEVE HAVING A DOWNWARDLY TAPERING CAM FACE AND SLIDABLE ON THE SHAFT WITH THE UPPER END OF EACH LEVER RIDING ON AN OPPOSITE SIDE OF SAID TAPERING CAM FACE, A RECRIPROACTING MEMBER ROTATABLY CONNECTED TO SAID SLEEVE 